A known fiber optic transceiver construction is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. This known construction includes a transceiver assembly 2 with multiple circuits 4a, 4b for performing the optical transmit and receive functions. The circuits are mounted on a substrate 6 and the assembly 2 is electrically connected to a host board via a leadframe 8. A fiber pigtail 10 is permanently attached to the assembly 2 at one end, with the other end of the fiber pigtail 10 connected to an optical fiber connector 12, such as a mechanical transfer (MT) connector, for connection to an optical back panel.
Because of the presence of the fiber pigtail, the leadframe 8 is typically hand soldered onto the host board rather than using an automated process, which is labor intensive. Further, the host circuit board is sometimes reworked or repaired during which the transceiver assembly 2 is removed and replaced which is made difficult due to the hand soldering. Oftentimes, the fiber pigtail 10 is damaged or destroyed during the repair or rework process since the pigtail is exposed. Further, the transceiver assembly on the host board occupies space on the board that could be eliminated or used to mount other components.